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State Rep. Karen Boback is calling for the state Department of Environmental Protection to launch an immediate investigation into the Chapin natural gas dehydration station in Monroe Township.

Since it went online in 2012, the plant has had a number of issues, including three within the last week. Boback, R-Harveys Lake, wrote a letter to DEP secretary Christopher Abruzzo on Thursday asking for a complete investigation and inspection of the facility.

"People who live near this plant are very concerned," Boback stated. "One constituent claims to have been awakened to see smoke rising from the plant, which caused an intense odor."

The most recent issues at the facility started over the past weekend, when a boiler malfunction caused water vapor from the glycol to be released, DEP spokeswoman Colleen Connolly said. Then, on Monday, the flare that burns off the moisture went out, creating a huge flame and lots of smoke when it was relit. On Tuesday, a leak of mercaptan - the substance that gives natural gas its characteristic smell - sent the reek of rotten eggs wafting around the neighborhood.

"As a standard course of business, we maintain an active dialogue with all local, state and federal regulatory agencies as it relates to our operations, and we will continue these discussions," Vicki Anderson Granado, a spokeswoman for the station's owners, Regency Partners LP, stated via email.

"Our Chapin dehydration station, which is part of a shared facility with other operators, has been operating within the required parameters and continues to do so. The safety of the community, the environment and our employees is our top priority."

The Chapin facility is also used by Williams, the company that owns the Transco interstate pipeline, where the gas is piped to go on to market after being dehydrated and odorized. Granado said Regency does not use mercaptan in its operations. Regency recently merged with PVR Partners LP, which built the station as part of a system to collect natural gas from wells in Susquehanna County. The Chapin facility uses glycol to absorb and remove water from the gas.

On Feb. 12, emergency responders were notified after residents reported billows of yellowish foul-smelling smoke coming from the plant. It was a boiler malfunction, which caused water vapor from the glycol to be released, and it happened again in March, Connolly said. In each case DEP's air quality staff investigated, and nothing was measured at dangerous levels, she said.

Connolly said DEP is aware of the issues at the facility and is sympathetic to nearby residents, but some of the problems might not be in the department's domain.

"We can only investigate air quality issues," she said.

The first incidents took place shortly after the dehydration station went online, on Sept. 30 and Nov. 23, 2012. The facility emitted loud banging noises that startled nearby residents and animals and rattled buildings. On June 6, 2013, 20 families in Luzerne and Wyoming counties sued PVR Partners, claiming that since the dehydration station was built, they lost the use and enjoyment of their properties, their property values went down, and they have suffered inconvenience, discomfort, mental and emotional distress and health issues.

Two weeks later, on June 20, 2013, a valve malfunction caused the spill of an undetermined amount of production water and the release of large bursts of water vapor, which brought emergency responders running.

eskrapits@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2072

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